Internet Society

Community Snapshot—September

Around the world, our community works locally, regionally, and globally to keep the Internet a force for good: open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy.

9to5Linux

KDE Releases KDE Frameworks 6.31 with Various Improvements and Bug Fixes

The monthly KDE Frameworks releases continue, and KDE Frameworks 6.31 is here to fix a bug that made the “Frames and Outlines Contrast” theme setting not take effect in certain apps and prevent the creation of an unremovable clone when manually setting the home folder to “Indexed” on the Search page in System Settings.

Canonical Announces Official Ubuntu Desktop Images for RISC-V

As I reported back in June, when the first daily build images for Ubuntu 26.10 were made available to download, there was a new RISC-V desktop image available too, but now Canonical is making everything official: Ubuntu 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) brings desktop images to RISC-V computers.

Ventoy 1.1.18 Adds Experimental Support for SteamOS Recovery Images

Highlights of Ventoy 1.1.18 include experimental support for SteamOS recovery images, improved support for latest LinuxConsole release, support for custom Syslinux-based ISOs, persistence improvements for on Ubuntu Desktop, and improved support for Clonezilla Live.

Calibre 9.16 E-Book Manager Improves Read Aloud, PDF Input, and Kobo Support

Coming three weeks after Calibre 9.15, the Calibre 9.16 release is a hefty one, bringing support for high-quality Kokoro voices to the Read Aloud feature, which sound much more natural than the Piper voices, especially for English, and support for downloading news from websites that block automated access by using the Camoufox headless browser.

Q4OS 6.10 “Andromeda” Is Out with KDE Plasma 6.3.6 and Trinity Desktop 14.1.5

Based on Debian 13.7 “Trixie” and powered by Linux kernel 6.12.111 LTS, Q4OS 6.10 ships with the KDE Plasma 6.3.6 desktop environment for the flagship edition, which is accompanied by the KDE Gear 25.04.3 and KDE Frameworks 6.13 software suites, all compiled against Qt 6.8.2, as well as the Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) 14.1.5 desktop environment on the TDE edition.

GStreamer 1.28.8 Multimedia Framework Improves the AMD AMF AV1 Video Encoder

Coming a month after GStreamer 1.28.7, the GStreamer 1.28.8 release is a small update that adds support for reading AAF AIFF-AIFC audio to the MXF demuxer, improves AMD AMF AV1 video encoder force-keyframe, adds Windows media audio/video seeking improvements, and brings hlssink3 improvements.

Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0.12 Released with Sequential Writes via io_uring on Linux

Coming almost two months after Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0.11, the Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0.12 release improves the embedded Raspberry Pi network installer with support for waiting for a usable IP address rather than just a link being up, which previously caused slow-negotiating PHYs like the Raspberry Pi 5 Rev 1.2’s MXL86110 to be missed entirely at first poll.

COSMIC 1.10 Adds Support for Mapping Drawing Tablets to Specific Displays

COSMIC 1.10 comes two weeks after COSMIC 1.9 with support for mapping drawing tablets to specific displays, support for setting environment variables in ~/.config/environment.d, support for using custom SSH agents, and support for remembering sort options in file open/save dialogs.

Blender 5.3 Enters Public Beta Testing with Vulkan Backend by Default on Linux

Blender 5.3 looks like another solid update that promises to finally enable the Vulkan backend by default on Linux, replacing the OpenGL backend, with the minimum Vulkan requirements being lowered to Vulkan 1.1 and some GPU/driver features made optional to support more devices.

KDE Gear 26.08.2 Released with More Improvements for Your Favorite KDE Apps

Coming a month after KDE Gear 26.08.1, the KDE Gear 26.08.2 update is here to fix poorly legible selection text with certain styles and color schemes, keep the style chosen for a special folder, and refresh the default zoom level when previews are toggled in the Dolphin file manager.

schestowitz.com

Fake Wealth

Numbers on paper. Mostly debts.

Fed With Ideas

Breaks and more

Soaking

Sunbathing is over

The Raspberry Pi Storage Cost Problem

Two issues

Cybersecurity in Japan

The below picture was taken at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, Japan

Better to Write a Lot (With Full Context), Not Mindless Quips

You cannot change the world with a “tweet”

Almost Five Years Since Dumping All Social Control Media

Back to blogging

Not Taking a Reliable Power Grid for Granted

Transformer substation

When a Law Firm is in Contempt of the High Court

Seriously.

Halloween

Coming soon

Tor Project blog

A statement on the Tor Project's relationship with Mullvad

Members of the Tor community have asked us to explain how continued collaboration with Mullvad fits with the Tor Project's human rights mission. We have heard both calls to end the relationship and concerns about what that would mean for Tor's work and the communities affected. We want to explain our decision to continue our technical collaboration with Mullvad and acknowledge the difficult trade-offs behind it. Our decision followed a thorough due diligence process that involved extensive discussions with community members, staff, and the board, a staff survey, and detailed financial analysis and scenario planning.

LinuxGizmos.com

Intel Twin Lake-Based Helix 320 Industrial Gateway with Quad 2.5GbE

OnLogic’s newest industrial edge gateway, the Helix 320, features a fanless design powered by Intel N-Series Twin Lake processors. The compact system includes four 2.5GbE ports, two configurable serial ports, M.2 expansion, and support for up to three displays.